Gus Lamont updates LIVE: Bombshell as police declare disappearance of Gus Lamont, 4, a serious crime and reveal three new theories on what might have occurred to him – together with the involvement of somebody recognized to him

After analysis by artificial intelligence, police have found no evidence that the toddler wandered off or was abducted from his family homestead at Oak Park Station.

‘The ground searches and the aerial searches with the images you’ve seen have failed to locate Gus or any items belonging to Gus,’ Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke said.

‘At this time, despite all of the combined search efforts, we have found no evidence, physical or otherwise, to suggest that Gus has merely wandered off from the Park homestead.

‘However, if we do get new information that does come to hand, I’m not going to discount that.

‘Further searching will be done, but you can see from the level of searching that has been undertaken we have a high level of confidence that he hasn’t wandered off.’

The search for Gus Lamont saw authorities drain three dams to find evidence of the missing toddler.

‘This area contained three dams. Those dams have been searched twice,’ Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke said.

‘On one of those occasions, we actually drained the dams so that the police divers could satisfy themselves as close to 100 per cent as they could that Gus is not in any of those dams – and we are confident that he is not.’

Eight searches have been conducted at Oak Park Station since Gus Lamont’s disappearance last September.

‘No stone has been left unturned in searching those outbuildings and the homestead,’ Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke said.

‘The search effort has been unprecedented, and the resources used have been significant.’

He said almost four hundred SA police officers and national authorities have searched for the four-year-old in the vicinity.

‘Deployments to Oak Park Station have occurred over more than 20 days, with at least eight separate searches conducted there,’ Det Supt Fielke said.

‘A detailed ground search was conducted over several days to a radius of 5.47km from Oak Park Station. That distance equates to about 94sqkm.

‘To put that in perspective, an area of that size would cover the majority of Adelaide’s inner suburban metropolitan area.

‘It is a significant distance, and all of it has been searched on foot.’

Det Supt Fielke said the 5.47km radius was chosen as national guidelines suggest children aged four to six years old are typically located within that distance of their last known location 94 per cent of the time.

‘This was not guesswork,’ he said.

‘It was based on reliable statistical data, which is why so much time and effort was invested in that area during the early stages of the investigation.’

Officer in Charge of Major Crimes Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke has detailed three new theories on what could have happened to Gus Lamont.

‘Today I am also declaring the disappearance of Gus Lamont to be a major crime,’ he told a press conference on Thursday.

‘The search for Gus was based on him walking off from Oak Park Station and becoming lost.

‘This is one of three investigation options that have been explored by the members attached to Task Force Horizon.

‘The other two investigation options are focused on Gus being abducted from Oak Park Station or whether someone known to him was involved in his disappearance and suspected death.’

South Australian Police are expected to make a significant announcement today in the search for missing toddler Gus Lamont.

The officer in charge of the state’s Major Crime division, Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke, will hold a press conference at 1pm local time (1.30pm AEDT).

Unearthed documents and local sources have revealed that the family of missing South Australian boy Gus Lamont has a complicated – and tragic – history.

Daily Mail revealed in October that the four-year-old’s grandmother, trans woman Josie Murray, had not given up hope of finding Gus, who vanished from the front yard of his family’s homestead at about 5pm on September 27.

Now, we can reveal more details about Josie’s past on the remote Oak Park outback property, located 40km south of Yunta.

Pictured is Gus’ grandmother, trans woman Josie Murray

Gus’ mother Jessica is pictured as an infant, sitting on mother Shannon’s lap

According to business records dating back to 1999, Josie’s life partner Shannon Murray – a woman – used to work the sprawling sheep station with her father, late war hero Vincent Pfeiffer.

Shannon – known as Shan – was registered as a joint entity of Oak Park Proprietors alongside Vincent, who was nicknamed Vin.

It is believed that Vincent’s wife – Shannon’s mother – Clair Jones had previously inherited the station from her side of the family.

A Robert Murray also appeared on the public document, though this name vanished from records in 2015 – replaced by the name Josie Murray.

It is not suggested that any members of Gus’ family are involved in his disappearance.

Gus Lamont was last seen at his grandparents’ homestead at Oak Park Station, a 60,000ha property 40km south of Yunta, on September 27.

The four-year-old was in the care of his grandmother, Shannon Murray, while his mother Jessica and grandparent Josie were tending sheep about 10km away.

Police said Shannon was the last person to see Gus, at about 5pm, when he was playing in the sand outside the homestead.

When she went to call him inside about 30 minutes later, he had vanished without a trace and the family reported him as missing three hours later.

At the time Gus went missing, his father, Joshua Lamont, was living about two hours away from Oak Park and was not present when his son disappeared.

Although hundreds of police officers, dozens of soldiers, a small army of volunteers and an Aboriginal tracker have scoured tens of thousands of acres of Outback, the blond, curly haired little boy has not been found.

The only trace of Gus was a single footprint found about 500 metres from the homestead – which police have since cast doubt on.

There is little hope he will be found alive.

At the time of his disappearance South Australian Assistant Police Commissioner Ian Parrott said they believe that Gus wandered off and was not taken, as the only people who travel on the nearby road are station owners.

‘Everything that we have found to date, every piece of information and evidence that we have explored to date, indicates that, as best as we know, Gus has wandered off from this property and we have not been able to locate him.’

Locals believe the four-year-old may have fallen into a disused and unmarked mine.

The area is dotted with mines and wells from more than a century ago.